Friday, June 5, 2009

SOTD: R.E.M., Everybody Hurts



Why it's song of the day:

Do any of you remember the children's book Alexander and the No Good Very Bad Day? If not, I think the title is pretty self-explanatory.

Yesterday I had a No Good Very Bad Day. First off, when I went to pay my credit card, which I thought was due on the 6th, I had a 30 buck late fee. The payment was actually due on the 3rd. Strike One. I decided to try and call the company and sweet talk them out of the charge, except when I went to my purse to find my card, my wallet was not there. I figured I had just left it at home, but I hadn't had time to make lunch or eat breakfast and now couldn't purchase anything to eat. Strike Two. In the meantime, it was raining and I had also forgotten my glasses. Cue the major headache. Finally, at 6:00, I headed home to eat something, grab my glasses and hopefully find my wallet. Pretty much the only thing I'd been happy about all day were my plans to see Up in 3d with a cute boy. Except I got home and my wallet was absolutely nowhere to be found. Strike Three.

I searched everywhere. Under my bed. In my laundry basket. In the freezer, even (don't judge me for having lost stuff and found it there before). I went back to the place I'd last used my wallet. They had nothing. Went back to work. Maybe it had fallen out of my purse and was under my desk. Nope. Finally, I had to call said cute boy and cancel. 15 minutes later I found my wallet in my pajama drawer. I'd run home from dinner in the rain the night before and immediately changed into pjs. Somehow, I'd left my wallet in the drawer and closed it. When I called the boy back--voicemail.

I wanted to cry. Real bad. Instead, I walked to McDonalds (dangerously close to my apartment), got a cheeseburger and fries, came home, drank half a bottle of wine and watched three episodes of My So Called Life. All better.

So here's where REM ccomes in. At the end of the pilot episode, Angela (Claire Danes) is also having a No Good Very Bad Day. She'd gotten in a fight with her mom, her old best friend won't even look at her, her best friend just got sexually assaulted in front of her, and the boy she totally sweats doesn't even know she exists. Then she sees her dad having a heated argument with a 20 something woman. Cue the anthem for angst in the 90s.

I jest now, but be aware that last night, this moment happened at exactly the same time that the half-bottle of wine hit me. And I cried. A lot.


Why you should love it:


I don't even know how to answer that one. It's universal, right? No good very bad days befall even the best of us.

So go ahead, eat that cheeseburger. Drink that wine. Wallow in self pity while watching hours of early 90's television. But remember. You are not alone. Everybody hurts.

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